The Reason You Bought a 360

Well, I'd say that title pretty well sums it up, so that's all for my review. Thanks for reading. Just kidding. After that powerhouse opening, let's get into Gears of War.

I've had my 360 for a while now, and quite frankly, it hasn't gotten much play. The games are so expensive I have to really budget if I want a new one, and I always have to choose wisely. So when talk of Gears of War first started traveling around my circle of friends, I decided not to even bother with it. After a few disappointments in my choice of games, I wasn't really ready for another one. Than I started reading the reviews, and I told myself I would buy it once it became a bestseller, and than I got a little more Christmas money than I had planned on, and decided to give Gears of War a whirl.

At first I wasn't impressed at all, at least not in the gameplay. The whole game is based around a flanking and cover system, and it felt a bit clunky, and when I made my first kill, I ditched the cover and just shot my enemy at point blank range, a choice of action I quickly learned was not a wise one. After about the first ten minutes, I got the hang of it, and played well into the night, finally satisfied that my frivolous 360 purchase was indeed a wise one.

So, let's start with the beginning. Gears of War is a third person shooter that plays much like a first person shooter. The game's story, such as it is, is that you are Marcus Fenix, a soldier in the army of the planet Sera, and you've been imprisoned after a court martial. The game starts off with your long time comrade Dominic Santiago letting you out, and asking you to join the fight against the Locust Horde, an underground dwelling race of monsters that burst from their subterranean lairs to rip man a new one. It's your job to reciprocate. That's pretty much it. The game is long on action and short on plot, but that's fine by me.

The first thing you'll notice when you walk out of your prison cell is the graphics. I'm not a graphics stickler, but this is one of the few games in which the graphics do really help make the experience. The character models are just about pitch perfect, the environments are fantastic, and the monsters are both beautiful and frightening to behold. Gears of War is truly the vehicle to show what the 360 is capable of. So let's just leave it at that the graphics are the most amazing to be seen on the 360 yet, and rival anything on the Playstation 3.

The next thing that you'll notice is the innovative control. As I said before, the flank and cover seems a bit awkward at first, but once you get used to it, you'll wonder why other shooters never implemented it. Basically, almost every shot you make in the game will be from behind cover of some sort. Most of this cover comes from concrete barriers, which keep you out of harm's way, but there are others, such as furniture, that will eventually break away, making time short and valuable. To get behind cover, you simply press A near cover of sorts, and presto, you're covered. From there you can make your plan of attack. From cover, you can fire blindly, pop out and make better shots by using the left trigger, toss grenades, swat turn to other cover, or if all else fails, roll and hope you don't get shot. While this gameplay mechanic would seem to be less exciting than the typical first person shooter circle strafing, but it's actually more exciting, utilizing actual strategy and making the kill that much more rewarding.

Another great element to the gameplay is the fact that you have help. You usually have three other squad mates, though the number sometimes drops depending on the game's situation. As the game progresses, and you become squad leader, you can bark orders, though this is rarely needed, as your squad is generally smart, though they occasionally stupidly run out into open fire and get themselves shot. Not to worry though, if a squad member falls, you can heal them with the touch of a button. They can't heal you of course, because the game would be too easy. The kicker is that your squad members can't die, or you fail the mission, and sometimes you have to put yourself in harm's way to heal someone, occasionally resulting in your own death. This doesn't detract, but rather makes the gameplay more exciting. There's nothing quite like leaping into the line of fire to save one of your buddies from certain death.

The Locusts are perhaps the most intense enemies ever to grace a shooter. Not only are their scary looking, but they're pretty smart too. While you're showing off your skills, swat turning from cover to cover, ducking and firing at the right times, and flanking, they're doing the same thing. The AI isn't perfect by any means, but offers enough of a challenge to ensure that you'll be killed a number of times before you can get to that next chapter. The Locusts are also well balanced. You have your grunts, which are essentially meat wagons that you gun down with reckless abandon, but do have the ability to make your path tougher if you underestimate them. Than you have your wretches, which are not strong, and can be killed with one shot or an easy melee attack, but attack from all directions, including from the ceiling, and can easily outnumber and kill you if you don't act quickly. Than there's the boomers, which are like grunts with much better weaponry. One shot from them can kill you, and they in turn are hard to kill, taking much more damage than the average locust. There are also locust seeders, and berserkers, which can only be killed with the Hammer of Dawn, a weapon I'll get into later. Then there's the kryll, nasty little winged things that can't be killed conventionally, and only attack in the dark, which leads to one of the most pulse pounding chapters in the game.

Now, on to the weapons. These are generally your standard shooter fare: pistol, shotgun, sniper rifle, machine gun, etc. However, there are two things that make the weapons stand out. Firstly, and most importantly, the machine gun has a chainsaw bayonet, which leads to some of the coolest melee attacks ever. I mean, why hasn't this been invented in real life? A machine gun with a chainsaw attachment is the coolest thought of...ever. The Hammer of Dawn also gives a bit of a change of pace. It's a weapon that when aimed with an open sky and an order from a commander, pinpoints a beam to fire from the sky and melt your enemies. You won't use this a whole lot compared to your other weapons, but it's a blast when you get the chance to. You also have grenades, but these have a handly little reticle that tells you the predicted trajectory of the grenade, giving you a bit of an edge.

And what great game is complete without great sound? Not this one. The voice acting is realistic, and the characters say realistic things. They sound like actual soldiers, and hardcore soldiers at that. Likewise, the monsters voices, and their various screeches and howls are enough to get you just frightened enough to want to kill them as quickly as possible. The weapon sound effects, and of course the chainsaw, complete the great package.

Atmosphere is also important in Gears of War, more so than plot. Take for example a chapter in which you travel through a city where the human outcasts live. Dark falls, and the kryll come out. You have one partner, and you have to travel through the city, blasting propane tanks to ensure that there's enough light for you to travel safely, or you'll be swept up and killed almost instantly. This leads to a great vehicle sequence in which you not only drive through the burned out city, but have to periodically kill the engine and use a UV turret to burn the kryll. I was so engrossed in this chapter that I was sweating, and more than a bit creeped out.

Of course, you can't have a shooter without multiplayer. You have the option to take a friend with you into battle via split screen or over XBox Live, which is reminiscent of Halo, but definitely welcome. You also have Warzone, which is basically deathmatch, pitting locusts against the humans. Than there's Assassination, in which the goal is to kill the leader of the other team, and Execution which is Warzone with a twist. Insted of dying, you do actually get to revive yourself before you "bleed out," and the only way to officially kill another player is to do a close range kill. It's all cool, but we've seen this kind of thing in other games. What sets these multiplayer games apart is the core gameplay. People like me who are passably good at shooters, but not nearly as good as other players, actually stand more of a fighting chance, as it's all about cover, not circle strafing. It's a welcome change that helps even out the playing field. But don't go in with any illusions-there are better players online who will do you in, but you'll have a better chance of getting a few hits in before they do so, and your death won't be as embarrassing.

I've spoken loads and loads on this game, and really feel like I've only scratched the surface. There's all sort of achievements and rewards you can get in this game, either by simply beating levels on various difficulty settings, or by collecting COG tags, and there's a myriad of other little things that I'll leave you to discover yourself.

As for the cons, they are few, but they are worth mentioning. First of all, the flank and cover system that makes the game so innovative also leads to one of its biggest flaws. The one touch cover system perhaps works a little too well for its own good. Sometimes, it can be hard to get out of cover, so when you're trying to ditch the cover you're in and go for something better, you'll do a swat turn instead. Also, when you're charging the battlefield in what the game calls a roadie run (very cool little move by the way) you can sometimes veer a little bit off to the side, and find yourself in cover you didn't want to be in. Also, for those of you who like a little game with your plot, this isn't the game for you. The games makes up for what it lacks in plot in atmosphere, but still, if you want a deep plot, you're barking up the wrong tree. Other than that, everything is pretty solid.

This is one of the few shooters now that put a lot of focus into its single player campaign, and while some reviewers have said that the campaign can be beaten on the easiest difficulty in seven hours, bear in mind these people are professional gamers, and are paid to beat games quickly. I spent plenty more than seven hours in the campaign, and the average gamer (like me) will be kept busy for quite a while, and that's without tackling the multiplayer or the extremely hard upper difficulty levels.

Ok, here's the deal: This is the best game on the 360 that I've played, and easily the best shooter currently on the market. If you have the extra dough this holiday season, this game is very much worth full price to own. Don't waste your time renting, you'll just end up buying it later anyway.

Parent's Note: This game is gruesome with a capital G, with the chainsaw melee attacks and general gore. The characters are not only killed, but sometimes literally torn to pieces. Couple that with the language and the general dark atmosphere, and you've got a game that's not for kids.